Saturday, February 25, 2012

Psalm 17:8


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
Psalm 17:8

8 Keep [shamar] me as the apple ['iyshown] of the eye [bath], [`ayin] hide [cathar] me under the shadow [tsel] of thy wings, [kanaph] KJV-Interlinear

8 Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Thy wings, NASB

Keep, ‘shamar,’ means to guard, defend, protect as one would do so for something that is the most valuable and precious.  To go to any and all lengths with no limit, even to the point of ones own death, to maintain and retain a highly valued possession.

Apple of the eye, is an expression consisting of the first word for apple, ‘iyshown,’ which means little man.

Eye, ‘bath,’ means the pupil or the little opening in the center of the eye, the lens through which the rays of light carrying the image of the object seen, through the eye and reflect it as on a mirror into the mind.

This then means the object seen, the little man, becomes the image seen through the opening of the eye and is reflected as on a mirror and so the person sees his own image reflected in the miniature.  So it is the symbolism of seeing oneself in the image of the object being seen. 

That is, God seeing Himself in us.  And how is that possible?

In the previous verses we know that the mature believer is the object being described.  The mature believer is one who maintains his life in fellowship, and in which doctrine has been taught, and thus learned, and thus understood, and thus utilized in the daily life.  This usage develops into divine production, which is the accessorizing of a soul built with doctrine.

Therefore, God seeing Himself in us, means God seeing His truth and His production which has been developed in us.  For, of our own self, we have nothing that would impress God, but God is impressed by the vastness of truth and that is the object in which we have come into possession by means of our daily commitment to the study of doctrine.

This is nothing that we do, nothing that we accomplish on our own, but the work of doctrine that accomplishes all within us.

Your value, resides in the doctrine that you possess.  No study, no doctrine, no value.

To hide under the shadow of the wings, likewise is an expression of protection.  Taken from the actions of birds.  The birds take their young and gather them under their wings for the purpose of their protection.  And so God takes believers under His protection and preserves and guards them against all enemies.

Both expressions are taken from Deut. 32:10-12.  Other relevant passages are, Ps 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 63:7; 91:1,4.

Therefore, as a mature and/or growing believer, you are extremely valuable to God.  God makes you the single most valuable object above all other things, because of the doctrine in you, which is made possible because of your attitude in pursuing doctrine in a legitimate fashion, not one by means of selfish or self-centered motivation.

As an unbeliever, you have no value because you have no spiritual life.  Your destiny is eternal disposal via the Lake of Fire.  Garbage is thrown out.

However, once you have believed in Christ, then your value begins and only increases as you grow up spiritually.

Believing in Christ, simply means that you recognize who and what Jesus Christ actually is.  You believe Him to be God, designated as the Son of God.  You believe Him to be the Savior, that He went to the Cross and paid the price for the sins of humanity, that He died and was resurrected and ascended into heaven and is now sitting at the right hand of the Father, in the place of highest honor and authority and sovereignty and power.

Unbelievers do not believe any of this, reject all of this, or make Jesus out to be something less than God, such as just another historical figure or some sort of prophet, or they reject Him altogether.

Once you have believed in Christ, then you simply know His true identity and believe it.  Your salvation is secure, even if at some time in the future you have doubts and decide to reject Him for whatever reason.  Once saved, always saved.

When you believed in Christ, that first instance of faith occurred in a moment of time.  Most folks most probably do not know when that exact first moment was, even though they at some later time made a conscious decision to believe in Christ and believe that the later time was their moment of belief.  It really makes no difference.  Saved is saved and reinforcing that concept is more of an emotional reinforcement in the individual and that is certainly ok.

When you were saved, God created a human spirit in you and imputed eternal life into that human spirit.  That is what is termed as being born again.  The birth or creation of the human spirit.  It was not felt, nor can it be measured nor detected by any human means.  It is just there.  You typically learn about this at some time after your salvation, perhaps years after.  Just as when you were born physically, you knew nothing then and did not know much of anything until many years later, perhaps in grade school or later in life when you began to process life's experiences and awareness within your own mind.

But likewise, after your physical birth, you have to grow up.  And that takes time and knowledge and experience.  The same is true with doctrine and your spiritual life.  But in the spiritual life, your growth is totally dependent on your attitude toward God, doctrine and your obedience to His will and process for that growth.  And in this regard, most believers fail because they get caught up in the emotional aspects of life rather than in the procedural process of spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth leads to maturity.  No growth means continued immaturity.  The apple of the eye, the wings of protection are directed at the mature, or the growing believer.  For it is their destiny to receive, to inherit the vast rewards of eternity.  The immature believer is still in heaven and the recipient of phenomenal blessings, but the spiritually mature individual will be the recipient of much, much, much more.

Just as a child lacks confidence and wisdom due to their immaturity, so too the spiritually immature believer will have difficulty in their spiritual life with regard to confidence and reassurance.

However, the growing believer, develops confidence through knowledge and awareness through doctrine, and sooner or later develops confidence which becomes the muscle and strength and foundation of their faith. 

You pursue doctrine, you support doctrine, you share doctrine.  Your life's meaning and purpose grows and blossoms.  And all thanks to the grace of God, who now is able to see Himself in you.

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